An arrangement of the pre-cited type for mounting a shaft is known from SAE TECHNICAL PAPER SERIES No. 970113 "Improvement of Scroll Compressor for Vehicle Air Conditioning Systems". FIG. 6 of this prior art publication shows a schematic representation of a so-called scroll compressor. The guidance and support of is achieved by a fixed bearing arranged in the figure on the left and configured as a groove ball bearing which guides the shaft in axial direction, while an enlarged-diameter end portion of the shaft spaced from the ball bearing is held in a second bearing. This second bearing is configured as a needle roller bearing. This enlarged-diameter end portion continues into a shaft journal arranged eccentric to the central longitudinal axis of the shaft, said shaft journal being connected by a further needle roller bearing to an orbiting scroll of a scroll compressor.
A drawback of this construction, however, is that with an improperly functioning fixed bearing, the shaft can be displaced in axial direction. Either the eccentric shaft journal comes to abut against the orbiting scroll of the scroll compressor in one axial direction, or, in the other axial direction, the enlarged-diameter end portion of the shaft abuts against a surrounding housing part. In both cases, an undesired high wear occurs in this prior art mounting arrangement.